Subject: {FIRSTNAME},Chronic Bronchitis And Emphysema Hello {FIRSTNAME}, Last time we learned about what can happen if you don’t get treatment. This time we will learn about chronic bronchitis and emphysema. Part 4 -------------------------------------------------- If you are suffering from chronic bronchitis and/or emphysema, acute bronchitis seems like nothing more than a cold. This condition is one in which severity is a serious issue for your well being. Chronic bronchitis is a lung disease. It, along with emphysema, is known as COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This condition is one that refers to the obstruction of the air passageways that stops you from breathing normally. You can have both emphysema and chronic bronchitis at the same time. Here are some facts you should know about chronic bronchitis. 1. COPD claims some 122,000 deaths each year in the US, as claimed by a study done in 2003. It is one of the leading causes of death. 2. The largest risk factor in patients that get COPD is that of smoking. 80 to 90 percent of those that suffer from this condition will be smokers. 90 percent of them will die from it because they smoked. 3. Female smokers are more likely to get COPD than men are. 4. If you are a victim of air pollution, second hand smoke, or have a history of infections of the respiratory system, you have an increased risk of getting COPD. 5. 19 percent of those that suffer from COPD will get it from their work environment. It is estimated that some 11 million people in the United States alone have chronic bronchitis or emphysema yet many moer are believed to suffer from it but are under diagnosised by it. In the population of aged Americans, of a frightening 700,000 hospital discharges, 70 percent of them were in people that are over the age of 65 (in 2004) showing the real risk that this condition poses to those that are older. Those that suffer from chronic bronchitis start by having an inflammation of their bronchial tubes. These are your air passageways, remember and therefore are very important to be clear so that air can move easily in and out of them allowing you to breathe. During your initial bouts of chronic bronchitis, your symptoms are the same as those that a person with acute bronchitis will face. There is a heavy discharge of mucus from your coughing and the cough itself is a tell tale sign of chronic bronchitis. One thing that your doctor’s will determine is if there is something else wrong that could possibly be causing your bronchitis in the first place. Some will have additional conditions like asthma that can lead to this problem. But, when there are no underlying causes, bronchitis can be labeled as the cause of your illness and then treated as such. When you have a bronchitis bout, your bronchial tubes become inflamed and swollen. Each time that this happens, the lining of those tubes becomes scarred. Over time, the more irritation that happens the more excessive mucus production will become. Your tubes lining will become thickened because of the scarring. As this happens, your cough becomes more and more troublesome. The excessive mucus and the scaring lead to problems with air flow. You can’t breathe as easily as you did. Still, the progression worsens so that your lungs become scarred themselves. For more information about bronchitis, please refer to my website Take Care,